Frodo Baggins and his companions did not use the bridge when they left the Shire in 3018. However, on their return trip they came to the bridge on 30 October3019.[5] To their surprise they found the bridge blocked on both ends with two spiked gates. Despite a sign proclaiming "No admittance between sundown and sunrise" the four hobbits made their way over the bridge, after dispatching Bill Ferny. They stayed the night at the guard-house before moving on to rouse the Shire.[6]

In Sindarin, the name of the bridge was i Varanduiniant. i is the singular definite article "the", which causes the initial b- in Baranduin to take the lenited form v- (i.e., Varanduin); the final element iant means "bridge".[8][1]